Xiao Shaozu hurriedly hid int the "bathroom" that the man pointed to, the back of his hand closed the door and he turned around to find himself surrounded by porcelain white tiles and magnificent decoration. He felt like he had entered some kind of fairyland. He immediately realized that he was no longer in the Underground Palace.
For Xiao Shaozu who had been imprisoned for 16 years, it didn't matter where it was, as long as he could get away from the dark, anywhere seemed like heaven.
With bare feet, he slowly walked to the washstand. Touching the delicate and smooth porcelain pot under his hand, he smiled slightly, his pair of round cat eyes bending into crescent shape.
Facing him, a mirror inlaid on top of the washstand stood and was waiting for him to look up. In the mirror, he saw the figure of Gong Lizhen reflected inside. Immediately, he was alert. He hurriedly took a few steps back and took a defensive posture and concentrated on his internal force, ready to fight back at any time. The person in front of him was weird, with long hair and silently appearing in the window of this room. It must be with the use of martial arts.
However, he could not pull on his internal force. This situation, Xiao Shaozu was amazed. The internal force in his dantian was almost completely exhausted and only a small trace of it could be mobilized. It would be difficult to defend himself.
His heart was panicking but Xiao Shaozu didn't expose it on his face. He only stared at the person in front of him, trying to find out the others flaws and getting ready to fight. He finally got out of the Underground Palace, he could finally feel warm brush of spring wind, smell the fragrance of flowers and feel the glorious nature. He must live! He will live! And live well!
The teenager who had suddenly appeared opposite of him also took a few steps back, posing in the same exact way as him and stared at him without taking any action. The two men were in a deadlock for a while. The young man saw that there was no murder in the other's eyes and they didn't take the initiative to attack either. He slightly lowered his defense and vowed, "There is no malice underneath; nor are you willing to tell me your intention, nor are you willing to take action. Therefore, you don't have to get entangled with me."
As soon as he spoke and waved his hand, the young boy opposite of him also spoke at the same time and their movements were no different from his. The young master looked into the other's eyes and frowned slightly. The teenager before him also showed the same expression.
Xiao Shaozu was smart and seeing the reaction of the person before him, immediately, a speculation emerged in his heart.
He pressed his heart in surprise and step by step approached the other teenager. The opposite boy gradually approached him as well. The young man reached out and the other person also reached out. The palms of the two young men touched but there was no warmth conveyed nor could he feel the softness of a human body, but rather, it was smooth and cold.
It turned out that it was not a window opening but a mirror with an extremely clear reflection! In other words, this strange boy who suddenly appeared out of no where was not someone else, bit it was this young master.
Realizing this, it seemed to trigger a certain kind of switch. The memory that was lurking in Gong Lizhen's head suddenly poured out like a mountain torrent. He gripped his head, gasped in pain before taking staggering footsteps and falling onto his hand. He grabbed the switch of the shower head on his way down and the cold tap of water poured over him, instantly soaking his clothes.
Xiao Shaozu fell into the bathtub, squatting down and burying his head between his knees, waiting for the violent pain to fade. While enduring his headache, he digested the huge flow of memory of Gong Lizhen and finally realized that he was no longer in his original body inside the underground palace but was in the body of another. The situation is what one would describe as "soul take-over".
However, the resurrection of the soul is not the most unexpected. What shocked him was that he was searching the inside of his body, he discovered that the boy named Gong Lizhen had a pure Yin body just like he did. Not only was the body a pure Yin body but it also practiced the reversal meridians dating back from only a year ago. No wonder this young man looked so feminine and delicate. If he used his body to cultivate "Yinyin Shengong", he will no longer need to absorb the Yangyang of other pract.i.tioners and his cultivation speed will be several times faster than in the past.
While thinking of all this, Gong Lizhen's memory were completely absorbed by the young man and the splitting headache from before gradually subsided. The young master opened his lips, letting out a low laugh, a joyful laugh as he realized that he was no longer in Xiao Lin's home, that he was no longer a tool for Xiao Lin's Reverse Spirits cultivation. There is no such thing as pract.i.tioner or battles between people of Jianghu. He does not need to train hard in martial arts in order to survive.
"Oh, it's so wonderful!" Xiao Shaozu, no, it should be Gong Lizhen, whispered in a low voice. He can't tell if he was more confused or more at peace with this news, he could only bury his head and hold his knees tightly to calm his up and down emotions.
"Gong Lizhen, what's wrong with you? Are you uncomfortable?"
Seeing as the boy had not come out for a long time, Song Haoran knock on the door several times but did not get any response. He was inexplicably worried and pushed the door open to check. He found that the little teenager didn't even take his clothes off. He was simply curled in the corner of the bathtub and the water flowed over him. He couldn't but pity him. His body was tight as he asked quickly about his condition.
"Song…big brother? I'm fine." Gong Lizhen slightly looked up at the man in front of him, speaking hesitantly as he searched his memory.
This person was a subordinate of Gong Yuanhang, Gong Lizhen's father, named Song Haoran. The Song family is a military family situated in Kyoto and when the new leader, his second uncle, took over after his father's death, he was exiled from the family. At that time, he was far away, at the border of C country.
Song Haoran's father had the pleasure of making Gong Yuanhang's acquaintance, and the two had lived through many life and death situations. Gong Yuanhang was afraid that Song Haoran would be persecuted by his second uncle, so he took the risk of offending the Song family and took Song Haoran to his side and let him focus on his future. Today, Song Haoran was only 26 years old, but with his own effort and thanks to the support given by Gong Yuanhang, he sat in the high position of Major General. He was also the only candidate to inherit the leaders.h.i.+p of A province's military region from Gong Yuanhang.
This person was very close to the Gong family. Although he often stayed in the army, he had his own room in the Gong family house. When there was no task, he would return to live with the Gong family. Gong Yuanhang also treated him as his own son.
The original Gong Lizhen was extremely disgusted with Song Haoran who took his father's love. He almost never talked to Song Haoran all year round. As the leader of the military region, Gong Yuanhang also used the military's method of teaching at home. He was very strict with his young son and Gong Lizhen was more than fearful of him. Gong Lizhen's sister, Gong Xiangyi, was kind and lively and cared for him but she was nine years older and the generation gap was too big. Not only that, although they were siblings, they were born from two different mothers. Although they are half-siblings, they still had the same blood, that of Gong Yuanhang, flowing through them. But still, with these differences, it was not easy to get along. In addition, when Gong Lizhen was ten years old, his mother died of an illness and since then, he became more taciturn and arrogant.
In Gong's family, Gong Lizhen was a transparent existence. He does not like to be close to others and he refuses to get along with others. But now, he was soft and approachable and called the other man "Song big brother". It made Song Haoran pause as he contemplated.
The young man's thin white s.h.i.+rt was already soaked, making it transparent and revealing the skin underneath. The two red cherries in the middle of his chest stood at a peak from the cold water and the skin was cold and tender, twitching and tightening from the cold. A pair of large and round cat eyes were soaked with water making the long curls of his eyelashes glitter with droplets, making a pleasing sight to see. In addition, he had let out a soft call as if attracting a beast in the jungle, making this scene dangerously beautiful.
Song Haoran's face was dark. He didn't dare look at the boy in the bathtub looking like a water fairy. He forced himself to open his eyes and squat down in place.
The showerhead was still open full blast, continuously pouring cold water onto the youngster's back and causing numerous droplets to fall on Song Haoran's arm with rolled up sleeves, making him feel cool.
"d.a.m.n, taking a cold shower just like this, do you want to get sick?" Song Haoran frowned, only to find the teenager looking at his stern expression with an extremely pale, apparently frozen with a confused look. He pulled a big towel from the bath rack, wrapped the boy in it before carrying him out of the bathroom and setting him gently down on the bed.
As for the part of him that was enticed, Song Haoran naturally ignored it. The youth looked like a feminine male. Coming face to face with this kind of scenery, anyone would be enticed. After all, everyone loves beauty. And he is no exception it seems.
"Thank you, Brother Song." Although the man's tone was severe, Gong Lizhen still heard the concern in his voice. There're family, friend and other people who care about him. This feeling was sweeter than the first that he ate a sweet-scented Osmanthus cake. Gong Lizhen's sincere thankfulness, big pair of slightly bend eyes and the sweet expression made him irresistibly cute.
Song Haoran's heart pounded again, and he unconsciously softened his voice and whispered, "No thanks are need, just don't harm yourself in this way in the future."
He said as he picked up a corner of the towel and wiped the teenager's hair. He caught sight of the wet s.h.i.+rt under the bath towel and sighed again. "Wipe your hair. I will go out and buy some clothes for you. I'll back soon so don't run around. Understand?"
"I understand. Thank you, Big Brother Song." Gong Lizhen nodded his head in promise.
Although Xiao Ling adopted him and gave him the position of a young master, he was not very good to him. He usually ignored him or beat him. Over time, in order to protect himself, he learned to obey. The difference between the obedience to Xiao Lin and this person was that one was forced while the other was willing. This person really cared for him. He was good at reading other people's emotions, so Gong Lizhen had no doubt about this.
It turned out that as long as one took the initiative to communicate with the teenager, the teenage wasn't as introverted as he first appears. On weekdays, he always rushed in and out of the house and was always busy so there was little time to concern for the teenager. It seems that he misunderstood him as he didn't try to understand him. Was this pure and cute appearance his true face? If it was not for today's incident, he would have never understood the real him!
Song Haoran knew his heart and was confident in his vision and judgement from his time in the military. He was sure that Gong Lizhen's current appearance was not fake but his true nature. The crystal-clear eyed hid nothing. The youth, wrapped in a large bath towel, sat on the bed, revealing only his wet head. He looked at the small face that was also looking him in the eye. In Song Haoran's eyes, the other looked pleasing to the eye, his heart also softened and he could not help but lean over and pinch the young white cheeks as he whispered, "Hey, wait for Song Big Brother. Song Brother will return soon." In fact, Gong Lizhen is very cute. It's not bad to have such a little brother. As he walked out the door, Song Haoran's mouth curved up, he was in a joyful mood.